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phone advice


MJ
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okay, living up here I haven't had a chance to play with any decent phones, currently debating between the HTC Desire S and the nokia E7

 

I know the earlier Desire, but being an old fogey I like the idea of still having an old fashioned Symbian before Nokia switch to Windows. Fortunately those nice people who write malicious apps seem to be concentrating on the Android platform. Anyone tried both (or even just one or the other?) what's their biggest flaws?

ooh and does skyplayer work on either?

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my husband has a nokia N8 which runs on the same symbian 3 OS as the E7, simiar phone to the E7 but without the slide out keypad, it is a really good phone. I was going to go for the E7 but ended up going for the samsung galaxy S2.

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To be honest, neither.

 

The Nokia E7 is a fantastic phone with a broken, old, slow and feature lacking operating system.

 

The Desire S is a very small upgrade from the original Desire and aside from the camera and slightly improved battery life, there's very little difference.

 

Three options for you:

HTC Sensation(out June from what people have been saying) is the real successor to the Desire. http://www.htc.com/www/product/sensation/overview.html

 

Samsung Galaxy S II - Out now, very, very fast Android phone and Samsung have made some great modifications to the OS.

http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxys2/

 

or the LG Optimus X2 - Again, quick phone, good battery life but it's running an older version of Android (2.2.1 - Froyo) and I'm not sure when it'll be upgraded to the newest one (2.3.4 - Gingerbread).

http://androidevolutions.com/tag/lg-optimus-x2/

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Just recently got the Samsung Galaxy S2 from having a Samsung Omnia HD (i8910). I'd said I'd never get another Samsung phone after the HD as there was absolutely no customer support or firmware upgrades period. Ended up reflashing the phone with a custom rom to make it useable.

 

From spending literally 5-6 months researching the S2 before getting it (waiting for it to be launched in UK) I can say that I am very very happy with the phone. By doing various tweaks I'm getting roughly 2 days of battery life out of it with "normal" use. GPS and Wifi are the biggest drains on battery - consistent use of both/either will see maybe half a days usage before the battery needs charging.

 

Build quality is outstanding. My only niggle is the phone is potentially too light :shock: as sometimes I can hardly feel it in my pocket.

 

There are various posts on the Internet about the LG Optimus 2x build quality being second rate with it crashing, freezing, overheating and generally being of sluggish performance. I however, can't back these claims up personally but there is an online petition in regards to "freeze and reboot problems" and various forums with dedicated threads on these issues. This was the clincher which swung me towards the S2.

 

I could ramble on about Samsung/Nokia and their Symbian shenanighans .. but I won't :o

 

Agree it's a pretty telling sign when Symbian is now a dead technology and Nokias Meego has been usurped by Windows Mobile in their devices.

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ah but it has keys... I have arthritis, plus sometimes unsteady hands. I'd prefer a nonqwerty keypad, but I seem to be out of luck on that front. the advantage I have with nokia is I know how to work them, (and the old Sony Erikssons + HTCs). Most of the software is easy for me to source from reliable sources and I can usually configure a new symbian within 30mins of switching them on (so they run like every other nokia I've had over the last 10years)

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with the samsung galaxy s2 its full touch screen and you can change the keypad either qwerty or like other mobile phone style (3x4 buttons), you can also speak what you want to put in a text and it will do it for you without typing might help if you have trouble with your hands sometimes. You dont get an overly detailed instruction book though so takes a day or to to figure it out properly. Certainly gotten a hang o it now and think its great

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touch screen is no good, neither is voice recognition, I need to be able to switch between languages, plus have you ever contemplated adminning a website by voice recognition, I don't think so.

at the moment I've been surviving by using handwriting recognition on a touch screen but it's so slow

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After many months of research I recently moved from Nokia to Android, choosing the LG Optimus GT540, and I am delighted with the performance. The latest android update went without a hitch and it does everything I want at the moment.

 

The only downside is LG's PC software, its pants, but there are plenty of third party options to back up your contacts etc so its not a big issue.

 

But to my point - it seems very similar to the LG GW620 which has a hardware keyboard. Still QWERTY but I suspect a smartphone with the old fashioned multi-tap will be pretty rare.

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MJ, from the sounds of things, you don't really need a smart phone. You need a good old 'dumbphone' with a really good keypad/QWERTY keyboard.

 

Or a HTC Desire Z, the only slide out keyboard phone I've ever liked the look of.

http://blog.phoneslimited.co.uk/files/2010/09/htc-desire-z-pl.jpg

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was actually looking at the Z earlier, but not available on my contract. I actually want the old 15key pad but seem unable to get one on a phone that can do stuff I need it to be able to do. I cannot see why anyone wants to make typing slower on a mobile by adding a qwerty keyboard, it's tortuous. My constant battles with the desire input is what is seriously putting me off a touch screen only phone.

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was actually looking at the Z earlier, but not available on my contract. I actually want the old 15key pad but seem unable to get one on a phone that can do stuff I need it to be able to do. I cannot see why anyone wants to make typing slower on a mobile by adding a qwerty keyboard, it's tortuous. My constant battles with the desire input is what is seriously putting me off a touch screen only phone.

 

You get used to it. But everyone is different. I wouldn't have it any other way personally, touch screen QWERTY has gotten so much better in the last few years. My girlfriend who has my old phone (HTC Nexus One which is basically a developer unlocked HTC Desire) gets infuriated by QWERTY so I had to download her an additional T9 keyboard.

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never been more insulted in my life, some wideboy just tried to flog me a Vivaz on a 24month contract! When I pointed out it was an outdated phone he then tried to flog me a iPhone 4! If it weren't for the fact I've been stung by Vodafone before...

Anyone know if T-mobile plan on bringing up a 3G cell?

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